Curriculum Development in Saudi Arabia - Report Example

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN SAUDI ARABIA Introduction Curriculum is defined as laid down systems in planning of what should be learnt by students and taught by teachers in the school annual study courses and programs (Prokop, 2003). Universally, tutors are supposed to teach using curriculums at various stages of learning, the tutors decides how they should teach, while the curriculum guides them on the what should be covered and when it should be done (Haidar, 2002). Contents in curriculum are mostly derived from textbooks, which form the basis of education worldwide, this places publishing agents and institutions a very significant role in development of any curriculum (Doumato, 1999). As the world develops and more people are enlightened, there occurs the need to improve and develop education systems in order to cope with demands for better and quality education. This has also been necessitated by the society’s need for qualified workforce. So many factors are put into consideration when the decision to revise a curriculum is done, since they need t determine what are the implications of the change, what need to be changed, how the change should be effected and when is the best time to change it. This creates a challenge to educational program leaders who are charged with this responsibility. Reasons that make curriculum change necessary in Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia is an Asian country that has had its fair share of problems effecting curriculum change in their education systems. Education curriculum in Saudi Arabia has been a point of intense debate especially from the western world. In order to address these challenges, one needs first to understand Saudi Arabia’s education system (Prokop, 2003). Although education is freely available, residents are not obligated to attain it. It is estimated that only less than 60% of children in Saudi Arabia attend schools. Education in this country is entrenched and based on the religion of Islam, which is practiced by 99.9% of the total population. They emphasize that all educational programs and curriculum should base their contents from Sharia Law and the holy book of Quran. The need to change the education systems in Saudi Arabia became more apparent after the Western countries cited that among people involved in September 11 bombing in the US were Saudis nationals, who were influenced by the education they had initially receive. The initiatives are implemented to develop the systems, which suffer from religious influence, and cultural influence where women are not considered equal to men (Haidar, 2002).This has had the effect of denying the girl child proper education. Saudi Arabia’s educational board ensures that all textbooks contain materials that help the spread of Islam; this affects contents of textbooks on subjects like literature, social studies, philosophy, biology and physics. This is because it lacks sufficient and qualified personnel to translate them without diluting the intended meaning of contents. The continuous link of Islam with extremist has hardened Saudi’s government resolve to hold onto its education systems. This is because they see the change that is being imposed on them as shunning their religion, and seeing the change as propagandas that are being spread by the western world (Prokop, 2003). This was affirmed by singing of a petition Saudi’s elites; judges and scholars who advocated for refusal to change the Kingdoms curricular since doing so, was defying and cutting allegiance with the teachings of Islam (Doumato, 1999). The western nations however, have indicated that the educational curriculum used is among factors that has hindered economic development in the religion (Haidar, 2002). They advocated for change, which will help the Kingdom, be able to integrate itself in globalization issues and be able to serve the increasing demands of achieving global millennium goals (Doumato, 1999). Although the Kingdom is unwilling to reform its education curricular, they have recently seen the need to change some aspects like in the fields of Science, Physics, and Mathematics. This has been because of pressures of demography and economic strains and hardships, thus emphasizing the need to acquire qualitative education (Doumato, 1999). The wide gap that is there between the education systems’ output and the job market has been contributed by education curriculum that has been in force over the years. The government is faced by increased unemployed rates and lack of skilled professionals. This has led it to encourage private sectors in offering educational programs, encouraging foreign investments through economic reforms to help its economic growth. Challenges Implementing change in education systems in Saudi Arabia is not easy. It is bound to create conflict between the Kingship, the ulama and its political structures (Prokop, 2003). Fighting and striving for the sake of Allah and elements of Jihad are fundamentals in Islam and are keyed in education curriculum. Therefore, reforming or adopting policies that are contrary to that will cause havoc is regarded as treason. This is truer with Saudi’s residents who believe that education is a branch of its Kingdom’s sovereignty and a tool for spreading Islam as written in the Quran. Reforms would then make the kingdom seem weak in its administration. Other teachings of Islam that are making reforms n education curriculum hard are like the believe that all non-Muslims are non-believers (Haidar, 2002). The teaching says that all none-Muslims should convert lest they go to hell, and that Allah curses all Christians and Jews. This causes difficulties, keeping in mind that nations that are pushing for change are mostly non-Muslim faithful. Implementation of reforms in Saudi’s education curriculum Although Saudi’s government has been reluctant in reforming its education syllabuses, they have shown efforts in doing so. They have agreed to reform some aspects of education that they deem not so controversial (Haidar, 2002). It has endorsed the curriculum development project which seeks to employ qualified people who will create educational contents that are up to date and influenced by changes and updates of current affairs globally, and develop policies hat will help the nation satisfy its political, economic and social needs. The project has been seen as a tool that would propel the quality of education through training qualified tutors, adopting technologies and activating school environment. Among the key areas that are targeted for reform is creation of updated degree programs for undergraduates, establishing complete new courses for postgraduate students, establishing new subjects like computer programming in the systems and elimination of others that are seen to spread hatred and violence (Prokop, 2003). Other areas that are suited for reforms are to language used during the learning process by tutors and students, and allowing students to make choices of religious aspects and contents in various subjects that would like to cover in their studies, since they are consumers of the curricular. A process has been used and continues to be utilized, in making change to the education curriculum in Saudi Arabia. It is a systematic procedure, which is used to minimize friction and maximize cohesion between the government, the ulama and its people. This cohesion helps them evaluate their religious, political, economic and social future of the Kingdom, improving its national identity and improve its international relations. Over the past ten years, the government has followed the steps in its reform implementation (Haidar, 2002). The first step involved analysing the education curriculum at its present form and its contents, its benefits versus how it benefit a student in the job market and how they are able to compete for better positions. They analyse how efficient the current system is in helping in development of the economy and how it helps in integrating it in the globalised world and other economies. The second step is evaluating how a particular change would fit into the goals and objectives set by the government and the nation as a whole (Prokop, 2003). It also seeks to find out how deletion or insertion of new programs would negatively or positively affect the students. The third step is setting up policies that prioritize quality education and estimating how much resource is needed to finance the reforms. The following step involves implementing the changes themselves in the curricular at a specified period and what need to be covered. The final hurdle to tackle is creating mechanisms and strategies that will help monitor the process of curriculum change, its effectiveness once the new curriculum is in force and results acquired thereof. There are significant factors in Saudi Arabia that have been highlighted to affect change of curriculum apart from its religious and political influence (Haidar, 2002). These include resistance by prominent people like judges and scholars to accept reforms in Saudi’s education curricular, as evidenced in 2002 when they signed a petition to refuse change in the education system, calling it propaganda from their enemies of the West. Saudi has experienced high pressure in satisfying the high demands of its population; this leaves no extra finances or resources to place in the education sector (Prokop, 2003). The nation has low skilled professionals. This situations make them import qualified labour to work in their administrative departments. This situation increases workload for teachers who are relatively few and noble to meet educational needs of its students. For academic curriculum to be changed, the government need to consult with professional bodies that are mandated to see to it where and when the changes should be effected. This bodies are however, not in Saudi Arabia. The nation’s viewpoint on education is another factor, they perceive education in terms of their religious aspect of spreading Islam and not as a tool to compel it economic wise. Conclusion Saudi Arabia uses the Islam religion as the basis for its education system. Continuous resistance to reforms has been due to most Saudis viewing the western nation who advocates for change of education curriculum, as enemies and non believers as taught by Quran that non-Muslims are none believers whose destiny is hell. The government however, over years, loosened up its grip and tried to implement reforms. Reforms in the education curriculum can be achieved even further by creating mutual trust between the international communities, the government, the ulama and the people. The government committing themselves and being consistent, can help the reforms even more and finally developing professionalism for the academic personnel. References Doumato, E. 1999. Women and work in Saudi Arabia: How flexible are Islamic Margins? Middle East Journal, 53(4), pp. 568-583. Haidar, A. 2002. Emirates secondary school science teachers’ perspective on the nexus between modern science and Arab culture. International Journal of Science Education, 24(6), pp. 611-626. Prokop, M. (2003). Saudi Arabia: the politics of education. International Affairs, 79(1), pp. 77-89 Read More